Your personal trainer says the best way to get in shape is to ditch the scale

Fitness experts say the best way to lose weight is to ditch the scale and use other methods to track your success. Personal trainer Steve Ahern says using scales as a way to track progress is toxic and outdated.

He says it’s much healthier to judge success by whether your clothes fit better and you feel more comfortable, or if we take measurements. Steve of Goal Plans, powered by MuscleFood.com, says weight loss isn’t about starving yourself to reach your goals, it’s about making a sustainable lifestyle change with better nutrition and exercise.

Steve helped launch a campaign called F The Scales, which called for a better way to measure success in health. One follower said the way he tracks progress now is to look at all the holes he’s had to make in the belt, and another said he now prefers to take measurements and progress photos.

People who joined said the campaign encouraged them to end their compulsive weight checking. The Goal Plans team encourages people to follow suit, find better ways to track weight loss, and celebrate weight and fitness gains.

Steve said, “It’s time to get on the scales and stop letting the silly little number on the scale determine our fitness success. We are constantly bombarded with messages that tell us our worth is tied to our weight. We see it in advertisements, social media, TV, magazines and so on.

“But the reality is that being healthy is more than a number, it’s about feeling confident in your body, getting stronger and feeding your body with nutritious food. I have seen many times when people work hard, eat healthy and exercise regularly, but then they get on the scale and to their dismay, the numbers on the scale stay the same or even go up.

“This makes people feel demotivated because they feel like there’s no point in trying when nothing changes. What many people don’t realize is that even if their weight isn’t coming off, they can still lose fat and make progress.

“Our weight fluctuates all the time, so the higher number on the scale can come down to something as simple as eating a salty meal the day before, causing your body to retain more water. Menstruation can also contribute to short-term weight gain due to hormonal changes, but this has nothing to do with body fat percentage.

“There is also a paradox of workouts that make you fat. This is because exercise creates micro-tears in muscle tissue, which lead to inflammation and temporary water weight gain, which can be mistaken for fat gain.

“It’s very common for newbies to see higher numbers on the scale, especially if they’re strength training because they’ll be gaining muscle. At the end of the day, you should focus on these small gains, like feeling your clothes come off, being able to lift heavier or run longer, or feeling more energized because of the healthy foods you’ve had consumed because they are the most important. pointers to improve your fitness journey.

“If you want to track yourself, I recommend doing weekly body measurements or taking progress photos. You might also consider taking a body composition test at the gym. It’s important to remember that everyone’s fitness journey is unique, so there’s no point obsessing over a single measurement that often isn’t even accurate.

“If you’re tired of relying on scales, join the F the Scales movement and throw them in the trash where they belong.”